JATD and 9-1-12 trail day review

[RRO]

Johnny and Alex Trail Day
“ When the wind blows, it blows your name. Today you were a hurricane. You blew from day into the night. Your memories filled the dim twilight”

This hook ran through my mind all day as I went from place to place checking on the crews hard at work all over the Pendegrass Murray Recreational Preserve. Not only were the words running through my head but I had a true sense that Johnny and Alex were watching down over us and that they were enjoying what they saw.

The normal JATD weather is hot enough to fry an egg on a Mccleod head, snakes numbering more than they had on that damn plane , bugs swarming thick enough to have floated the titanic, jungles of poison ivy to thrash through; with all these heinous conditions making climbing not even an option even for the most committed gumby….I guess the bushwhack gods got a visit and a stern talking to from Johnny this year and he told them we had enough and had proven ourselves , so he thought we needed a break… The weather was as good as August in Ky can get, which had me worried everyone would back out and we would have to go to the crags to guilt them into moving some dirt, trust me, Id guilt my granny into throwing a shovel if I had to. I was absolutely amazed that the opposite happened. Once registration opened up at Lago Lindas it was like the dirtbag flood gates were opened and the hippies were released like a Spring trout stocking. The official number was around 180 folks, but even with me only being able to count to 19, Im betting we hit over 200 smelly volunteers as others joined the work force throughout the day.

The amount of work that got done this year was off the hook and truly blew this hillbilly away. As an organization we have learned by failures, trail classes, trail god osmosis and of course through success on how to start repairing old screw ups and to develop new areas without creating future problems. It seems everyone is taking this to heart and allowing us to focus on opening new areas, instead of solely focusing on fixing the same problems year in and year out.

This year’s trail day completed some of the best and probably the most work done on a trail day. We were able to open up two new crags, Velo and Throwback crag. We were able to open up an old crag and its new routes, Getaway. We were able to complete the first mile loop of a five mile multi use trail system in flat holler. This trail has already been getting plenty of mountain bike and climber traffic and is pushing the limit of legal fun, well, and speaking from plenty of illegal fun experiences , its pushing those limits too….We will have updated crag and trail information posted soon for the new areas. We were also able to do some huge fixes to the Gallery, stairs and new trails at the Volunteer Wall, much needed reroute at Left Field, big improvements to the Drive By/Marley short cut and many other small projects all over the property.

As the work day drew to a close we all headed back for some much needed refreshments, rest and telling climbing lies to old and new friends alike. Everyone had came prepared with their rain gear , flippers and snorkels since every year when the 23 string band enters the pavilion it rains hard enough to sink the ark. Not this year, the hippies and hillbillies danced well into the night with nary a drop of rain in sight.
As the last drink was finished, the last string plucked and the final embers of the fire burned out I looked around. Content, pride and utter bliss was on everyones face I saw. As my eyes drew to the clear skies I saw a couple stars blink and knew that was Johnny and Alex filling the dim twilight……

We would like to thank the sponsors that help keep us rolling year in and year out and make days like this possible: Access Fund, Bluegrass Bouldering, Red River Outdoors, Miguels Pizza, Rockquest Climbing Gym, Benchmark Outdoors Outfitters, J&H Outfitters, Gordon Food Service, REI, Cliff Bar, Gore Tex, Lago Lindas Hideaway, Mtn Ranks, Red River Rockhouse, Elodie Saracco Photos, Wes and Tania Allen Photography and many many behind the scene sponsors and folks.

9-1-2012 Flat Holler Multi Use Trail Day

What the hell, lets have a trail day to celebrate the day the world was cursed with my being….ok, well a day late but close enough to count….I figured I would be out there solo or maybe with one or two others that had nothing better to do than watch a hillbilly sweat and suffer, especially since hurricane Issac was predicted to wash us all away….Myself and the weather dummies were proven wrong again, we had about 10 folks give up their day off to come work on some finishing touches to Flat Hollers first mile multi use trail loop and had amazing weather the whole time…

Since this trail has opened up it has seen almost daily use from not only climbers, climbers that bike but has also seen plenty of use from locals and bikers from out of town. The trail is an absolute blast to ride and a pleasure to walk or run. It needed a little bit of love on some of the turns to make it flow a little better. It got more than a little love, if it was an adult flick it got XXX quantity of loving.

We were able to finish up an amazing S curve feature that once its settled in will be one of the highlights of that trail section. What would have taken me two weeks to finish alone we punched out in four hours giving us plenty of time to roll back to my crib to drink brews, eat till we couldn’t move and tell plenty of stories we hope our mommas never hear.

One of the best birthday presents I could have asked for…Thanks to those that came out and suffered with me.

As this year draws to a close we all have a ton to be excited about. This is the year we actually get to say we did it. We pulled off the largest land purchase by a group off climbers, we have been able to not only manage the land but have been able to manage it in a sustainable way. We are figuring out how to enjoy the adventure that nature has provided us yet protect the gift of the mountain we have been blessed with. We couldn’t do it without you, so props to ya !

Take care and enjoy the world around ya
Matt Tackett

[clif]

i think this is freekin' amazing and such a privilege to be allowed to play some small part. thank you Matt, all the Playas, and everyone involved

[ted]

Well said! A big thanks to everyone involved!

[Josephine]

Matt - you have a wonderful way of writing. I couldn't stop smiling as I was reading Great job to all who helped! I walked the trails this weekend and was blown away at the quality and the volume of work that was done - and I didn't even see more than a fraction of all of it! Makes me proud to be part of a great climbing community!

[pru]

proud work, everyone!

[dollyjn]

It's awesome to see the passion folks put into maintaining the sustainable backbone of RRG.
It's our pleasure to give back to people in a place that means so much to us.
Thank you to everyone who planned and hustled to keep the memory of Johnny & Alex very special.
Thank you Matt for putting your special touch on the written recap of the event.
~*~ Lovin' Life and the people who make the difference! ~*~

[clif]

God bless us everyone

[pru]

I paddled with an old friend of Johnny's today, super cool guy who goes by Major. He knew John for 30 years. John touched a lot of lives... I really miss him. Thanks again, everyone - especially Josephine for picking up the torch and sprinting with it, and Matt who has always been the driving force behind this trail day, and so many other community efforts, and of course everyone who went out and worked so hard to maintain this land that we would not have were it not for John Bronaugh.